Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: In the trail of the Ganga Expressway

In the last of three-part series, Nitin Kumar looks at how jobs, education and health remain concerns even though locals are upbeat about UP’s infrastructure push 

It was an offer that Shiv Narayan Pandey of Pure Dayal village in the Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh (UP), could not refuse. The promise that he would own a dhaba on the six-lane, state-of-the-art Ganga Expressway made him relinquish his six bighas of land that lay in the expressway’s path. 

“Who can say no to the government,” says Pandey, a construction contractor.

The prospect of realising his dhaba dream is not the only thing Pandey is celebrating today.

The Rs 2.25-crore compensation — four times the circle rate in his village — is another reason for his joy. “With this expressway, everybody in my village has become richer. Some have got a compensation, others have got the chance to sell their land near the expressway to industries which are slated to come up later,” says Pandey.

But not everyone in his village feels the same way. There are those who say that the government will not be able to finish the expressway by the 2024 deadline. Others say that even if it is finished in time, there is little chance of any industry coming up.

“The government has inaugurated Purvanchal Expressway. How many industries and jobs have come up there? Zero. That will also be the fate of all the villages along the Ganga Expressway,” says Raghubir Singh, a farmer in Rae Bareli district.

Though the BJP-ruled state government has not yet completed the industrial parks that it proposed on the Purvanchal and Bundelkhand Expressways, it has started work on a detailed project report (DPR) for Ganga Expressway, officials told Business Standard.

The foundation stone for the construction of the Ganga Expressway was laid in December last year. Once complete, the 594-km long expressway will cover the districts of Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Raebareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj.  

Though the people living near the soon-to-be-built Ganga Expressway are happy that the BJP is working on infrastructure development, many are concerned about issues like the rising cost of living. The youth in Prayagraj express their discontent over the alleged corruption in the recruitment of government jobs. Prayagraj has the highest number of educational and coaching institutes in Uttar Pradesh.

“They promised a corruption-free government. In the last two years, all the exams I took were cancelled by the government after the news of paper leaks. Is this what UP voted for in 2017?” asks Sanjay Singh, a UPSC aspirant.

Government employees are also worried about their future. Rachna Devi, a school teacher in Badaun, saw her salary slashed from Rs 35,000 to Rs 10,000.  

“It was a nightmare. The BJP talks about prosperity, but it doesn’t want anybody to prosper. I think their manifesto just has mandir and roads, not jobs,” says 40-year-old Devi.

Moreover, many feel that the state has a long way to go in areas like health, education, law and order, and employment. Others say that the projects that the state government is completing were initiated by the previous government or are funded by the Centre.

However, UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, counters that charge: “We have 64 MPs who hail from Uttar Pradesh. One needs to understand that whatever work the central government is doing, is also our achievement.”